Thermostatic valve.



G. L. BOTTUM.

THERMOSTATIC VALVE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15. I914.

Patented July 20, 1915.

GEORGE L. IBOT'IUM, OF CHICAGO, TLLINOIS.

THERMOSTATIC VALVE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 15, 1914. Serial No. 845,068.

. ings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved valve construction for a hot-water system, having means for automatically closing at a predetermined temperature determined by the adjustment of the valve.

It consists in the elements and features of construction shown and described as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a valve embodying this invention.- Fig. 2is an axial section of the same at the line, 2- -2, on Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section at the line 33 on Fig; 2. Fig. 4 is a detailsection of a thermostatic or heat-responsive member.

The valve shown in the drawings comprises a casing consisting of a body member, 1, having the inlet, 2, and outlet, 3, the inlet, 2, being adapted to be closed by a piston valve, 4, which is preferably in the form of a disk, 4*, having guide wings, 43, so that the valve may be wide open,that is, may have its disk or head, 4., which closes the port withdrawn therefrom a distance suificient to admit between it and the entrance to the valve port fluid to the amount of the full capacity of said port while still guided perfectly by the port walls. The piston valve, 4, is carried by a two-part stem comprising parts, 5 and 6, which are parted and lapped upon each other for relative longitudinal movement at a diametric plane, extending from the shoulder, 5, of the member, 5, to a shoulder, 6, of the member, 6, the end of the member, 6 abutting upon the shoulder, 5, and the end of the member,

5, abutting upon the shoulder, 6, when the two members are fully lapped, as shown in Fig. 2. The member, 6, is connected with the valve, 4:, by the expansible heatresponsive member, 8, hereinafter more par tieularly described; and the member, 5, of'

V the stem protrudes from the casing and is provided with an operating handle, 9, -The casing comprises, beside the body member, 1 a closure and stem-bearing member, 10,

which is screwed into the upper end of the body, 1, closing an opening 1n said body large enough to admit the 'expansiveheatresponsive member, 8, which is considerably greater in diameter than the piston valve to which it is directly connected at the lower end. Upon the stem member, 6, there is cut a square-form quadruple thread, as shown at 6, which engages the corresponding female thread in the central aperture of the closure member, 10, of the body, and is of sufficient pitch to give the valve, 4, its full movement from fully closed to fully open position by somewhat less than one full turn of the stem. The stem member, 5, has near its upper end within the casing an annular boss, 5*, having a tapering shoulder facing outward and an abrupt shoulder facing inward. The closure member, 10, of the body is axially apertured from end to end and has at its upper end a bushing, 11, apertured for the upper end portion of. the stem mem ber, 5, which is reduced at the upper end to pass through said aperture of the bushing which is screwed into the upper end of the said closure member, 10. The bushing is counterbored at the inner end around the Patented July 2c, 1 15.

stem aperture, and in said counterbore there is lodged a sleeve, 12, preferably of indurated, fiber, whose inner end is conically bored to form a seat for the outer tapering shoulder of the .boss, 5", on the stem member, 5. The

inner abrupt shoulder of said boss receives the thrust of a coil spring, 15, a wearing washer, 16, being interposed between the end of the springand said shoulder, the lower end of said spring being stopped upon an abrupt shoulder, 10 on the casing closure member, 10. The said closure member may be chambered out at the lower part,.as shown at 10, above a sufficient threaded portion for engagement of the threaded stem as described to within a sufiicient distance of the shoulder, 10, to leave sufl'icient material below said shoulder, which results in an inwardly-protruding annular boss, 10, the upper side of which is the shoulder, 10*, which boss forms a guide seat for the stem at the portion where it consists of the lapped and sliding end portions of the two members, 5

and 6. The spring, 15, interposed, as described, between the upwardly facing shoulder, 10*, of the casing closure member and the downwardly-facing abrupt shoulder conical seat provided for it in the lower end of the indurated fiber sleeve, 12, and dispenses with the necessity for any packing aroimd the stem at its emergence from the casing. On the annular tablet, 10 which results from the relatively large diameter of the closure member, 10, at the lower end where it is screwed into the vbody member,

1, and the lesser diameter of the upper portion of said closure member which houses and guides the stem, there is inscribed a scale gradu: ted in degrees of temperature from a relatively low temperature at whichthe valve is designed to be set wide open to a higher temperature, at which it is designed to be closed; as, for example, from 110 degrees F. to 250degrees F., as shown in Fi 3. dhe operating handle, 9, of the valve stem carries an index finger, 17 which extends down alongside the reduced upper portion of the closure member so as to traverse the graduated scale as the stem is rotated through the one revolution which is Suficient to move the valve from wide open to fully closed position. It will be observed that in such rotation of the-stem, the upper member, 5,. will not have any longitudinal movement, but the lower member, 6, partaking fully of the rotative movement by reason of the engaging lap of the flat diametric faces. of the two members upon each other will receive also the longitudinal movement .due to the threaded engagement of said lower member with the body, the two mem bers, 5 and 6, sliding upon each other in the longitudinal movement which the member, 6, thus receives for opening and closing the valve. For more perfectly insuring the con precaution involved in providing this guide pin is not usually necessary, because the stem members are seated at their lapped portion, as stated, in the annular boss, 10.

The expansible or heat-responsive member-,8, will now be described. It consists of a pluralityas illustrated, four,-of fiat chambers, 8, both walls of which are corrugated to adapt them to the necessary change of form involved in expanding the charm here without contracting their diameter. Each of the chambers, 8 is formed of two members, each of which is in general cupshaped, the wall of the cup in each case be-- ing ti-shaped in radial section, and the bottom or" disk member of the cup being corrugated. The two cup -shaped members are meme? connected by lodging the ll-shaped wall of one in the V-shaped wall of the other, one member being enough larger thanthe other to permit them to be thus engaged, the engagement being effected by springing cutward the corrugated bottom of the member whose V-shaped wall is to be engaged witnin the V-shaped wall of the other. lhe ll-shaped walls thus seated, one within the other, are first solder-coated so that they may be sweated together, and the reentrant angle of the V-shaped wall of the outerseated member is then filled with solder, 20, as shown, so not only producing a perfectly secure and non-leaking joint, but also mak ing each of said chambers peripherally rigid, which necessitates the expansion which maytake place being accommodated by the flexibility of" the corrugated walls. At the center, both diaphragms forming the chamber are apertured, and the adjacent diaphragms of adjacent chambers are secured together by hollow rivets, 21, each clenched down upon a washer, 22, as seen clearly in Fig. 4:. It will be understood that these adjacent walls of adjacent chambers are riveted together before the other wall of each chamber is coupled to it by the engagement of the V-shaped peripheries secured by solder,--as described. I

The outer wall of one of the outermost chambers, 8, has'its central aperture closed by. a solid rivet, 23, and the outer wall of the other outermost chamber has its central aperture closed by a hollow rivet, 24:, the

solid rivet having a threaded tang for screwing into the stem member, 6, and the hollow rivet having a similarly threaded stem for screwing into the head of the valve, 4. Before connecting the expansible member with the stem and valve, the chambers of all the members, 8*, are filled with some suitable expansible liquid, as wood alcohol, which is poured in through the hollow rivet, 24, the rivet itself being filled to the top, and the valve, 4, is then screwed on to said hollow rivet, closing it perfectly; and if desired,- the surfaces having been first solder-coated,

the rivet may be. soldered to the head of the valve by applying suflicient heat to cause the solder to flow and set. Usually, however, it will be sufficient to screw the rivet home tightly to the valve, the joint being made tight in any method familiar for making threaded joints tight.

In operation, as indicated, the valve wil be wide open when the chambers, 8 are expanded, and the valve, 4:, is'withdrawn to its highest position, at which highest po ition the pointer, 17, will stand at the E est point on the graduated scale, or as thereto as permitted by a stop, 25', is preferably provided upon the tabt finger standing at one side of the s highest position and at the eppos-..

v the stop at the lowest position. If it is desired to have the valve closed when the temperature reaches the'highest degree indicated on the scale, the valve stem will be left at said farthest withdrawn position,that is, with the pointer standing at the highest point on the scale. This will. require. the maximum expansion of the chambers, 8", to close the valve, and they are calculated to expand sufliciently to thus close it by the time the temperature has risen to the degree at which the pointer stands on the scale. If it is desired to have the valve closed at a lower temperature, the stem will be rotated back to such lower temperature, in which rotation the valve will be proportionately closed so as to require less expansion to completely close it. Thus, if the valve stem is rotated to carry the pointer back to 120 degrees, the valve will be nearly closed at normal temperature, and expansion of the member, 8, resulting from the slight rise from normal temperature to 120 degrees F. a

will complete the closing of the valve.

I claim:

1. In combination with a casing having inlet and outlet openings, a valve for closing the inlet opening positioned and mounted for movement in the closing direction past the closing position; means for operating the valve comprising an exteriorly accessible member and an expansible chamber filled with an expansible fluid located within the casing and constituting part of the connection from the exteriorly accessible member to the valve.

2. In combination with a casing having inlet and outlet openings, a'valve for closing the inlet opening proportioned and mounted for movement in the closing direction past the closing position; means for operating said valve comprising a threaded valve stem and an interiorly threaded member with which the valve stem engages the pitch of the thread being substantially equal to the full stroke of the valve from fully open to fully closed position, and an expansible chamber filled with expansible liquid situated within the casing and constituting part of the connection therein from the stem beyond said thread to the valve.-

3. In combination with a casing having inlet and outlet openings, a valve for closing one of said openings positioned and mounted for movement in the closingdirection past the closing position; means for operating the valve, comprising a two-part stem whose parts are adapted to move longitudinally with respect to each other and to engage each other for rotation; exteriorly-accessible means for rotating one of said parts;

an expansible chamber filled with an ex-.

pansible liquid connecting the other of said parts within the casing with said valve, said last mentioned m m r of the stem having a threaded engagement with the casing for moving it into and out of closed position by rotation of said member,'and means for checking the rotation of the exteriorly-accessible member to cause it to remain at any position to which it may be manually adjusted.- Y

4:- In combination with a casing having inlet and outlet openings, a valve for closing one of said openings positioned and mounted for movement in the closing direction past the closing position; a stem for said valve comprising two members, one of which extends outside of the casing for operation, the other member having threaded engage ment with the casing and an expansible chamber filled with an expansible fluid connecting said last mentioned stem member with the valve, the two stem members being connected with each other for the rotation of either by the other and for relative longitudinal movement; means for stopping the exteriorly-protruding stem member against longitudinal movement with respect to the casing; a graduated scale and pointer for indicating the rotative movement of the exteriorly-protruding stem member, the scale being graduated in degrees of temperature.

5. In combination witha casing having inlet and outlet openings; a valve for closing one of said openings; means-for operating the valve comprising a two-part stem whose two members are connected for rotation together and for relative longitudinal movement, one of said stem members protruding from the casing for exterior operation; an expansible chamber filled with ex-.

on the outer member of the stem outside said tapering shoulder and adapted to seat thereon; the casing having an outwardly-facing shoulder for seating the washer, and a bushing for clamping said washer on such seat.

6. In combination with a casing having inlet and outlet openings, a valve for closing one of said openings; means for operatingthe valve, comprising a two-part stem whose members are parted at a longitudinal diametric plane at which they lap for longitudinal sliding upon each other; saidlapping faces having each a longitudinal groove, said grooves facing each other and forming a seat for a guide pintle, each member being to protruding fromthe case and exteriorly proi ieneet vided with means for rotating it and means for longitudinally stopping said exterior stem member With respect to the casing,

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 6th day 15 of June, 1914.

GEORGE L. BO TTUM. Witnesses:

CHAs. S. BIm'roN, EDNA MAolN'rosH. 

